Attention all Dodger Fans... The Braves once again need clean up with a toss off... this time on Aisle 44... a mop and bucket and swoosh Jake Peavy away to L.A. please... he has been a cheap distraction, a tease and a heartbreak... haven't seen that combo since Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo. He is averaging 5-7 innings per game, and I wonder why?? A guy so young and talented hasn't completed a game since April?? Fishy... very fishy... Hey Dodger Fans, please bring some Lysol for the fish smell too thanks!! The Braves all but gave them enough of a team to intermingle in with their scrap pile to assemble a competitive field... Yunel Escobar alone would fill a few seats... more than Khalil Greene I'd bet... oh, that's right, they're shopping his locker around too!! As for you Dodgers, we already gave you a toss off cookie in Rafael Furcal... see how you do?? Shoppers beware, that this is a filthy market to be in, where cash is king, Cincinnati has no Queen Marge Schott and the Braves have all the princes of the future... Come one and come all... but as for Jake Peavy... (in my best supermarket manager voice)... Dodgers... Clean up on Aisle 44...

No cynical stories about John Rocker. No muscle bound outfielders to brew over like Ron Gant. No famous slides like Sid Bream. No more surgical precision of Greg Maddux. No post season (at least meaningful post seasons since 1996). So where does the buzz come from for next season?? There is no more TBS rain delay movies since we hardly see them on TBS anymore. John Smoltz is nearly done and probrably cannot come back from this one. Tom Glavine is one baseball seam away himself from retirement. Chipper is more hurt than healthy, even after winning a batting title. Leo Mazzone is rocking some other bullpen to frenzy. Ned Yost just got fired from his non-Brave job. So what will inspire the fans next season to shell out $45 or more for tickets??

We should settle on the hope that at the very least of our woes is the fact that Mike Hampton could be gone. Anybody else hear the burst balloon on him?? He stunk it up when he could be on the field, and sat the pine for the other years. The Bulldog? Hardly. And he will gone, ousted by the clarity of need for pitching. I wouldn't call Hampton a pitcher anymore. More like a teapot, tipping over and out and leaking his career all over the Majors. Good riddance! Ciao baby! Drop that red & blue jersey at the gate.

Batters can still hit. Franceour showed he has learning to do but has gumption to learn it. Chipper shows he is class and power. Even Kelly Johnson is warming up the ash pipe. Josh Hamilton looks like raw diamond, however another hitter is needed. With Texeira gone now who fills that threatening roll?? We'll see.

What Atlanta Braves fans can do now is wait. We can skim through the CBS Sportsline pages and Hot Stoves for targets and cliches. What we can do is support Bobby Cox for coming back as a class act and gentleman of baseball to usher in the next class of talented minor prospects. We can lobby for TBS to open back up for us to watch our boys more often. Lastly, we can cross our fingers that no matter what happens, we will hear the clop of the bat and plunk of the leather in the confounds of Turner Field for another season of Braves baseball.